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Walcott - I’m looking forward to Traore test

Theo Walcott is relishing the chance to face Armand Traore on Saturday and says his former team-mate has all the attributes to succeed in the Premier League.

Traore moved from Arsenal to QPR in August after failing to win a regular first-team berth at the Emirates, and the England international says the move should prove beneficial in the long term.

“Armand has absolutely everything [to succeed] - he is a very good professional,” Walcott told Arsenal Player.

“Maybe Neil Warnock will be good for him and make him switch on even more. Armand is tremendous going forward, defensively strong. He has all the attributes [you need]. Hopefully he will be at it, and it’ll be a nice test for me.”

With both Gael Clichy and Kieran Gibbs in front of him for much of his time at Arsenal, Traore failed to force his way into Wenger’s first-team plans and Walcott has sympathy for the full back.

“It’s very tough knowing that you aren’t going to play every week - you just need to be in the manager’s face,” he said.

“You must be at it, because when you do get the chance, you have to take it. If he was still here he might have had his chance because we haven’t had a left back for a while now, though obviously Thomas Vermaelen is playing there now.

“You have to be patient being third choice, but he’s playing now and I am sure he’s happy.”

Watch the full interview with Theo on Arsenal Player.

Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source30 Dec 2011

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